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Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics
Finding A (Pine) Needle In A Haystack: Chloroplast Genome Sequence Divergence In Rare And Widespread Pines, Justen B. Whittall, John Syring, Matthew Parks, Jason Buenrostro, Cynthia A. Dick, Aaron Liston, Richard Cronn
Finding A (Pine) Needle In A Haystack: Chloroplast Genome Sequence Divergence In Rare And Widespread Pines, Justen B. Whittall, John Syring, Matthew Parks, Jason Buenrostro, Cynthia A. Dick, Aaron Liston, Richard Cronn
Biology
Critical to conservation efforts and other investigations at low taxonomic levels, DNA sequence data offer important insights into the distinctiveness, biogeographic partitioning and evolutionary histories of species. The resolving power of DNA sequences is often limited by insufficient variability at the intraspecific level. This is particularly true of studies involving plant organelles, as the conservative mutation rate of chloroplasts and mitochondria makes it difficult to detect polymorphisms necessary to track genealogical relationships among individuals, populations and closely related taxa, through space and time. Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) makes it possible to acquire entire organelle genome sequences to identify cryptic variation …
Genetic Variation At Nuclear Loci Fails To Distinguish Two Morphologically Distinct Species Of Aquilegia, Elizabeth A. Cooper, Justen B. Whittall, Scott A. Hodges, Magnus Nordborg
Genetic Variation At Nuclear Loci Fails To Distinguish Two Morphologically Distinct Species Of Aquilegia, Elizabeth A. Cooper, Justen B. Whittall, Scott A. Hodges, Magnus Nordborg
Biology
Aquilegia formosa and pubescens are two closely related species belonging to the columbine genus. Despite their morphological and ecological differences, previous studies have revealed a large degree of intercompatibility, as well as little sequence divergence between these two taxa [1,2]. We compared the inter- and intraspecific patterns of variation for 9 nuclear loci, and found that the two species were practically indistinguishable at the level of DNA sequence polymorphism, indicating either very recent speciation or continued gene flow. As a comparison, we also analyzed variation at two loci across 30 other Aquilegia taxa; this revealed slightly more differentiation among taxa, …